How to Perform Equine Physical, Neurological and Dental Exams

Whether you are looking to purchase a new equine friend or simply want to advance your equine husbandry education, being able to properly perform equine exams is a key skill. In this post, I will run through how to perform three different equine exams: physical, neurological, and dental.

Equine Physical Exams

When performing an equine physical exam, you must first collect the history of the horse. You should always do your best to determine the following:

  • What is the age, sex, and breed of the horse?
  • What was the horse used for and what is planned for their future?
  • What are they fed (grain/hay) and how much?
  • Is the horse stalled or pastured?
  • What is the horse’s vaccination/deworming schedule?

Once you have gathered this basic information, you can begin to examine the condition of the horse.

Coat Conditon

Examine the horse’s coat carefully. Is the coat nice and shiny or is it dull, coarse looking, or excessively dry? Does the horse’s skin have scabs or patches of missing hair? Do you see a winter coat in the middle of July?

All of these point to a possible underlying health condition and should be assessed further to determine the cause and permanence of the issue.

Body Condition

When evaluating body condition, I recommend referencing the Henneke Body Condition Score Chart. Equine body condition is scaled 1-9 with 1 being poor and 9 being extremely fat. An acceptable BCS falls between 4-6, with 5 being the ideal score.

Palpate the neck, shoulder, withers, ribs, hip, and head of tail to feel for excess fat deposits.

Vital Signs

Check that the horse’s vital signs are in the normal range. For more information on equine vital signs, check out our post “Optimizing Horse Health: How to Give an Equine Physical Exam”.

Mentation

Mentation simply means “mental activity”. To examine this on a horse, you must simply observe them. Is the horse alert and paying attention to their surroundings? Or does the horse appear to be sulking and lethargic?

Legs/Hooves

Run your hands down each leg and feel for any lumps (which may be soft or hard) or heat. Any issues found will need to be further examined to determine the severity. For the hoof examination, check to see that they are symmetrical and void of any cracks or odor.

Equine Neurological Exams

Every animal requires a healthy nervous system for normal functions and athletic ability. These functions include walking, eating, urination, etc. While neurological issues require an expert’s diagnosis, you can examine a few things to identify if any exist in the first place.

Neurological exams should be performed when/if the horse:

  • Starts acting odd (stumbling, difficulty standing up or laying down, etc.)
  • Begins leaning against objects, walls, etc.
  • Tilts its head frequently
  • Has balance issues
  • Flexes their neck laterally
  • Exhibits a lack of facial tone/symmetry (droop)
  • Dribbles urine or feces
  • Is being purchased (as part of a pre-purchase exam)

Examination

During a general equine neurological exam, you will observe a few things to determine the function of certain nerves.

Cranial Nerves

When determining cranial (located in the head) nerve function, you first examine the bilateral symmetry of the horse’s head. Is there any drooping or other asymmetries?

Next, check the tone and sensation in the lips, nostrils and tongue. The horse should respond to touch on their whiskers, nostrils, eyelid, and ears. There should be nothing “hanging limp” and some response should be observed. The horse should exhibit a normal swallowing reflex and no nasal or oral discharge.

Next, you will look at the horse’s eyes. The eye should display a clear cornea and lens with the pupil in the center of the eye and motionless when the head is still. Wave your hand in front of the horse’s eye to check for reflex/reaction.

Avoid moving your hand briskly towards the eye (as if you were to hit it), as this can provide a false positive from the air movement from your hand hitting the eye.

Finally, make some noise near the horse and observe whether or not the ears move in response to said noise.

Cervical and Somatic Nerves

This next set of nerves we will examine has to do with the neck and body. Again, you will examine the horse for bilateral symmetry, this time looking for no muscular hypertrophy, atrophy, or spasticity.

Turn the horse’s neck to both sides to check for flexibility or tension. You will also want to perform a panniculus reflex test, where you lightly touch the horses skin to see if the skin shakes in response.

Next, perform a sway test, where an experienced person will gently pull the horse’s tail to each side as another person walks the horse. The horse should be able to walk with minimal impediment.

Finally, you will want to examine the sacrocaudal region for tail and anal tone.

Gait Examination

The final part of the neurological examination involves gait examination. Have the horse walk and trot in a straight line and check for any gait abnormalities (limping, hitching, etc.).

For more information about performing a gait/lameness exam, check out our post, “How To Identify and Assess Equine Lameness”.

Interpretation and Causes

When interpreting a neurological exam, you must determine if there is a neurological abnormality and if so, where it is localized and the severity of it. You can grade gait deficits on a 0 to 5 scale:

  • 0 – normal
  • 1 – mild, intermittent
  • 2 – mild, consistent
  • 3 – moderate, consistent
  • 4 – severe, consistent
  • 5 – recumbent (laying down)

There are numerous causes for neurological issues in horses including physiological trauma and disease.

Equine Dental Exams

Horses (like many other herbivores) have hypsodont teeth, meaning that each tooth has a clinical (visible) crown and a reverse crown (longer portion under the gums). Hypsodont teeth continuously erupt until expired with the average horse tooth being 4 to 5 inches in length.

The upper and lower jaws of the horse differ in width, with the maxilla (upper) jaw being about 30% wider than the mandible (lower jaw). It is normal for horses to have some uneven wear to their teeth, but you should do your best to check for abnormal wear, abscesses, hooks, or missing teeth during your examination.

Thank you so much for reading a bit about the different kinds of equine exams. Let me know if any of the information in this post surprised you! I’d love to hear from you.

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